Stephen Drew (oblique) out of the lineup

BALTIMORE — Just a week into his return to the major leagues, Stephen Drew was out Monday with tightness in his right oblique that he first felt in his last at-bat on Sunday night at Detroit. Whether the injury will keep Drew out of the lineup for mo

BALTIMORE — Just a week into his return to the major leagues, Stephen Drew was out Monday with tightness in his right oblique that he first felt in his last at-bat on Sunday night at Detroit. Whether the injury will keep Drew out of the lineup for more than one day depends on how he feels Tuesday.

Jonathan Herrera was in the Red Sox lineup at shortstop on Monday.

Drew played in seven minor-league games in a 10-day span after he signed a one-year, $10 million contract with a Red Sox team that wasn’t getting adequate production from the left side of its infield. It was an extremely abbreviated spring training of sorts, though Drew had been keeping in shape in workouts both near his Georgia home and at a Florida facility run by agent Scott Boras.

“You don’t have the time to build a physical base as you would in spring training,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “We have to be mindful of when some of these things that might come up in spring training, when you can give him a couple of days just to get over it, that’s not the case here.”

Albeit with the benefit of hindsight, it seems fair to wonder if Drew could have benefited from more time in the minor leagues to build that physical base. Farrell hinted that the Red Sox didn’t have that choice based on the contract Drew agreed to sign.

“There are probably a number of things that go into negotiations,” the manager said. “I’m certainly not privvy to those.”

In four games since he joined the Red Sox, Drew is 1-for-14 with a pair of walks and five strikeouts.